☉ Sun in the Tenth House
The Sun
Rules – Leo
Detriment – Aquarius
Exaltation – Aries
Fall – Libra
Represents – Power, ego
Keyword – inner self
Sun in 10th House Meaning – Focus on Achievement
The tenth house concerns our image before the public and those qualities we wish others to see in us. These specific qualities will be influenced by the sign on the house cusp and any planets posited there along with the Sun, and particularly any planets conjunct the Sun or the Midheaven. The tenth also has a bearing on our career and profession. The natural sign of the tenth house is Capricorn, known for being responsible, and the planetary ruler is Saturn, the Great Teacher.
The tenth house is concerned with our public image; and, as you can imagine, those with the Sun placed in the 10th house are very conscious of their public image. These people are usually quite ambitious and are capable of becoming respected by their peers whatever the career happens to be. This is often a placement found in the charts of politicians and at this juncture there is also a warning I might add, and that is, these individuals should be cautioned about their desire for power. This power principle can become obsessive, and, when the life is lived merely for appearances and power, not only may the life be a shallow façade, but power may be abused. With this position, the abuse of power may very well backfire particularly if the Sun is afflicted by Saturn, sometimes referred to as, “The Lord of Karma”.
Sun in the 10th House: Positive Traits
The focus of attention is towards the outer world and the assertion of their nature and qualities through social status and acknowledgement. With the Sun in the 10th house the motivation will come from a desire to become socially influential, aspiring towards public recognition and the satisfaction of needs for power and the attainment of their ambitions. This will attract them into striving for career or social progression, so that they can rise to positions of authority and responsibility, and others can easily recognise their success and achievements. the Sun in the Tenth house natives want to rise above the crowd through expressing your abilities, to become a leader directing others rather than be a passive follower.
With Sun in the Tenth House, you are likely to be motivated toward achievement and accomplishment. You may much of your identity from your career or from other ways in which you find success, acquire status or accomplish your goals. Generally, involvement in areas of life that are public in nature, such as career, leadership, politics or public involvement will be important for you. If your fate does not allow you to participate much in public life, you may either identify with someone who fulfills that role. Alternatively, you may harbor latent desires to have a more public life. You may resent being confined to a more private role where opportunities for achievement and success are limited.
You may feel some pressure to succeed, since your sense of being and self-worth is likely to be related to your achievements, recognition and success in the world. You are, therefore, more likely to work hard and be goal-oriented. You are also more likely to work within structures that support your quest for measureable success in life. Appreciation and positive feedback for the work that you have accomplished may be important in building and maintaining your self-esteem. You are also more likely than most to have clear goals and to take the initiative to accomplish those goals. (Gargatholil)
This reflects a need for egoic assertion; and your experience of self-worth and esteem will be directly related to your degree of visible success in the community. Entering socially respected professions may be the direction you choose; and your self-image will be closely connected with and modelled upon the ideals of your profession or type of employment, especially if you are at supervisory or management levels.
As success is so important in their chosen direction, they should have the ability to focus their will, consistently and powerfully applying it to amplify self-discipline and perseverance so that some degree of attainment is achieved. However, by rigidly pursuing this path they may simultaneously restrict your freedom and options in life, as certain ways may be considered to be unsuitable as they fail to fit into the idealised image that they are projecting. The danger may lie in the possibility that even if they do reach their aims, the apex fails to fulfil and they are confronted with the question of ‘what next?’. At some point they will reach your apex, which can become a limiting plateau and may have a dispiriting effect on their well-being and identity. (Haydn Paul)
Depending on other factors in the chart, those with Sun in the Tenth House may be conservative, a three-piece suit-and-tie person, formal and cautious, or they might be quite the opposite, someone who rises out of the crowd to assert his own opinion. In any event, they’re sensitive to the issue of cultural power, and are drawn to acquire as much as you can, whether they earn it, inherit it, borrow it, or steal it. Their life-machinery gets basic energy from career considerations; and whenever they need to energize theirself, juicing their profession is a natural way to do it. The Sun is too broad to indicate specific career choices. It does show that whatever they do for a living must have core importance in their life, that they must do it with great dignity, and that they want impact on the world. Their challenge is to achieve broad social respect. Remember – be authoritative, not authoritarian. (Bill Herbst)
A 10th house Sun is one of the strongest testimonies of career success. Negative aspects in the chart must be extremely severe to counteract its effect. It gives a proud, calm, dignified bearing, with an air of authority and a charismatic quality that others admire and respect, though they are usaully quiet and undemanding in attitude. They appear to rise to high position through little or no effort of their own, just by being in the right place at the right time.
Generally, these individuals with Sun in the tenth house exhibit dignity and respectability, quite often believing that it is their task to set a good example for others to emulate. They do tend to be drawn toward positions of leadership and command and, just as when the Sun is placed in the first house, the tenth house Sun has little use for second place. There will always be some sort of worldly ambition and aspects to the Sun should indicate whether or not their goals will be attained with greater or lesser difficulty. Pursuit of their goals is quite important for these people, but they should reconcile themselves to the fact that in most instances climbing to the top may bring along a few enemies in their lifetime. This should not dissuade these people from their goals as long as they are cautioned to keep their principles honorable.
Another important factor concerning the tenth house is that this is one of the parent houses; the other being the fourth house. The tenth house tends to represent, in my opinion, the parent that had the most influence on us for good or ill. If this house represents the mother, we may have a case where the child is expected to live out the mother’s dreams as in the case of the typical “stage mother”. Then again, this collusion of mother and child may be quite unconscious. Children have an uncanny knack for picking up currents in the air – things left unspoken, and, on a very deep psychic level, gear their life toward what they believe Mother wanted. If this should be the case, then at some point the individual with the Sun in 10th House will have to ask themselves how much they are doing for themselves and how much is being done to please their mother and thereby gain her love.
If this house represents the father, then the native with the Sun in the Tenth house will want him to acknowledge his accomplishments. Usually, the father is looked upon as quite successful and the child will have a desire to emulate him. If the relationship between father and child is congenial, this is done in a positive sense of comradeship. If, however, the relationship is less than loving, this could manifest as a desire to show the father up by beating him at his own game.
Sun in the Tenth House: Negative Traits
You tend to identify with what you have accomplished and with your successes in life. Unless you have transcended your need to succeed, you probably believe that you are what you have achieved. Your identity is also defined by what you do to achieve success. If you have achieved much, you will tend to have a high opinion of yourself. If you have achieved little, you may see yourself as a lesser player in the scheme of things. Howeve, you may console yourself by seeing yourself as having performed a job well done. (Gargatholil)
If this position is afflicted, these people with the Sun in Tenth House may be dictatorial tyrants, abusing power and holding others down through the native’s insecurity. They may manipulate the rules or attempt to achieve power through unscrupulous means. They should always remember their sense of honor or Saturn may come to call.
A need to be seen by others as being an achiever can emanate from a hidden insecurity; but the right use of the Sun potency would heal any such tendency, giving them a stable, deeper centre to live their life from, transforming their style of personal assertiveness from any predisposition to exploit power over others into a co-operative attempt at mutual benefit for all.
If you are inwardly insecure, you will feel that you must accomplish and succeed or you are worthless. Since your self-worth is solely determined by what is external to yourself and beyond your control, you can never feel secure in your worthiness. Consequently, no success is enough and you push yourself until you are stressed and hollow inside. You may be outwardly successful but you are never secure internally. You use your success as a shield and a prop to substitute for your own authenticity.
Another manifestation of your insecurity is that you may be so intimidated by the need to succeed that you cannot ever see yourself measuring up to that standard and you fail constantly. Your low self-esteem and lack of confidence perpetuate this cycle of failure. You may continue trying, always stressed and anxious, or you may give up in frustration. (Gargatholil)
Authority may be their great strength or their Achilles heel. It all depends on their maturity, on how well they’ve reconciled the paradoxes surrounding pride. If their inner growth has gone well, they may be a model of responsible power. On the other hand, those with Sun in the Tenth House could be ambivalent in their behavior, oppositing any external authority wielded over them by others while commanding total authority in their own dealings with others. This pitfall is the ‘pot calling the kettle black’, and results in others eventually opposing or undermining their power. The challenge is to understand the gentle strength of true fathering, to develop and release the authority that resides within them, in a way that is honorable, respectful to others and theirself. (Bill Herbst)
There is great power in this location of the Sun, but they are often unaware of it, or unwilling to use it, fearing the loneliness that comes with it. If they try and fail, it is always due to their lack of belief in themselves or their willingness to continue always to see themselves as the folks at home see them. They must learn to let go of the advice and opinions of others and make decisions on their own. Once they can do this, their rise will be rapid. The earlier they are on their own, the better, as the habit of making their own decisions and taking immediate action will carry them forward. Those with Sun in 10th House should steer clear of closely binding business partnerships at the outset, as these will often come to hamper them later. The warmth and trust they seek will come later from people who trust them and are supported by their strength and self-confidence: their employees, students, constituents, or own children. (Stephanie Camilleri)
Sun in the Houses
Last updated on August 30, 2017 at 1:41 am. Word Count: 2105